High quality, heart-healthy beef focus of international symposium

Producing beef with high levels of oleic acid and other heart-healthy traits for both domestic and Asian consumption will highlight an international symposium Oct. 15-16 at Texas A&M University.

Top international beef researchers will headline the second Korea-U.S.-Japan International Joint Symposium. Discussions on the economics of producing high quality beef for domestic and foreign markets, and the latest research on Wagyu (Japanese) and Hanwoo (Korean) breeds will be featured.

Although Asian consumers tend to use small portions of beef when preparing dishes, they prefer the meat to have consistent levels of marbling, since much of the fat cooking oil used to prepare dishes comes from meat left in the pan, said Dr. Stephen Smith, conference chairman and a professor of animal science at Texas A&M.

"Our target audience includes individual producers and companies or organizations that emphasize the production of high quality beef for either domestic or foreign markets," Smith said. "Accordingly, the symposium will focus on important aspects of high quality beef cattle production for the U.S., Korean and Japanese markets."